A&G Coal Night at the Races

by: Shawn Peters, 84expo.com

Coeburn, Virginia (August 5, 2008) - Saturday night short
track action returned to ASA Sanctioned Lonesome Pine Raceway to
kick off the month of August in style. A large crowd of 2000 plus
witnessed a great show. The night's racing action was sponsored by
the A& G Coal Corporation and featured the familiar Pure-4,
Mod-4, Charger, Street Stock, and Late Model Divisions. Also on
schedule for the evening was the touring Super Cup Stock Car Series
events.

The
LPR debut of the Super Cup Stock Car Series was a thriller! Jimmie
Crabtree Jr. (63) had won the A&G Pole Award earlier in the
evening by .005 seconds. However, he would start third on the grid
after a series rule mandating that the top 6 qualifiers "draw
straws". The beneficiary of the random drawing was the 3rd
fastest qualifier Mike Kurkowski (67). The top 7 qaulifiers were
within .2 seconds.

Kurkowski would lead the first lap of the event. On lap 2, he was
overtaken by Wally Schweitzer (44). Schweitzer would lead until lap
11 when Crabtree moved his way back into the lead. He was followed
by Wally Schwiezer (44), Ryan Miller (71), and new crowd favorite
Megan Reitenour (92). On lap 12, Mike Williams (24) lost a tire,
sending him into a spin and bringing out the first caution of the
race. Shortly after the ensuing restart, Joe Harrison III (75)
quietly worked his way into the top 5 on the leader board.
Throughout the mid portion of the event, Ryan Miller challenged
Crabtree for the lead but was unable to take the position. On lap
53, Reitenour made a move on Miller to take the 2nd position and
quickly set her eyes on the leader. By lap 62, Reitenour was on the
rear bumper of Crabtree, leading to a 10-lap battle for the top
position with Crabtree on the high line and Reitenour on the low
line. The battle culminated with contact by Reitenour, sending the
two leaders spinning through turns 3 and 4 on lap 72. When the green
flag was shown to the field, Ryan Miller found himself in the lead,
followed by Harrison, Schwiezer, Crabtree, and Reitenour. On lap 77,
Reitenour made a pass on Crabtree to take the 3rd position; however,
Crabtree dumped the #92 in the next turn leading to a yellow flag
and a rough driving penalty for the driver of the #63. Harrison
calmly stalked the leader for a couple of laps before making the
pass for the lead on lap 82 of the race. With 14 laps remaining, the
#71 of Ryan Miller and Schwiezer made contact exiting turn 4, which
sent Schwiezer into a spin bringing out the final caution of the
night.

Harrison
would hold off Ryan Miller and Megan Reitenour to claim his first
career victory in the Super Cup series in only his 5th career stock
car race after a long career in go-karts. "This is awesome! I
just saved my tires early on and in the end, we got the lead and had
good tires to make the run to the Checkered Flag! The best part was
doing the burnouts aftewards, replied Harrison in victory lane.
Rounding out the top five were Jimmie Crabtree Jr. and Wally
Schwiezer. Crabtree also lead the halfway and most laps in the
event.